I’m starting this post with a huge sigh… Last weekend friends of the “Garden Gate Gang” attended two separate orchestra shows of Roger Hodgson, first Christine enjoyed Linz (Austria), then Gregor and Mick went to Aachen (Germany). If things had worked out just a wee bit better time-wise, I would have tried to be there for the Aachen gig, but alas… *another sigh* Can’t have it all, can ya?
I’ve plastered youtube links to Gregor’s videos, all over my facebook page, so here I’ll just post one more…
Supertramp music is a strange beast for me (I said that before, didn’t I??); it was the sound track of my growing up, to say it with the words of many, many other Supertramp fans. That does have a rather cliched sound to it, but it remains a fact regardless!
After going through all of Gregor’s youtube vids, I’m now listening to Crime of the Century, which was the first Supertramp album I owned. And hearing Asylum,Rudy or Crime of the Century, all songs by Rick Davies, I am reminded why it would be so great if Roger and Rick made their peace and worked together again. A little bit of Rick’s jazziness would do Roger’s songs just as well as Roger’s mellowness would do magic to Rick’s bluesy notes… Together they really worked wonders – well, in my humble opinion anyway! But in case you don’t understand what I mean, here’s a video of 26 years ago – incidentally, that last tour before Supertramp split up, was also the last concert I had the luck to see live in Berlin, before moving to Gozo for good. Needless to say, whenever I see snippets of it (I actually have a TV recording on VCR of it – but no VCR player, dammit!) I drift into rather nostalgic depths…
There are rumours – correction: there have always been rumours! – that Roger and Rick might give Supertramp another chance. Personally, I don’t see it happen. Roger seems to be totally content with what he’s doing, without having to put up with tantrums by others, or with unsuitable compromises. (Though he ought to give Aaron a chance to get a haircut, Aaron deserves it!!) But should it ever happen… believe me, I’d get a ticket, and if it was the last money I’d ever spend on music!
To those of you who don’t really know me, I might come over as a woman possessed. As a matter of fact, I’m anything but the “groupie” type. But Roger is that kind of person, whose history impresses you, and then you meet him and, because you’re still with the Supertramp superstar pic in your head, you just can’t be not amazed at how his personality even surpasses that history… He truly is a wonderful guy!
And with that tribute to Roger and Supertramp, I shall conclude my “home alone trilogy”. In about 5 hours my life is getting back to normal. *sigh*
(A Grasswidow… is a wife whose husband will return after a limited period of time away) <– according to Wikipedia!
Third and last night home alone; tomorrow’s doesn’t count, as hubby will arrive back in Gozo late at night. It’s been a really strange feeling… incredible how one gets used to living as a twosome even if you’re just spending a couple of waking hours after work.
Yesterday I did what I do best when I’m bored: spend money. I only wanted to buy lottery tickets but then found exactly the kind of dress – I think in English it’s called a “shift dress” – which I’ve been seeing in my imagination for weeks, to wear at my sister’s wedding, but had given up hope to find in Gozo. It was one single dress of its kind in the whole shop, a size 8 (*gasp*!), but against all odds it fit me perfectly – and did not cost an arm and a leg!
Not having spent enough yet, I went on splurging on a couple of Samsonites, half an hour before shop closing time. Luggage handling at Malta International Airport must be among the roughest in Europe – every time I fly out of Malta I find pieces broken. And no, that’s no exaggeration or even discrimination. Maybe the handlers are just pissed off that it’s not them who are going away, I don’t know. In the past couple of years I’ve been through 3 suitcases… cheap ones, to be honest, but that’s no excuse in my opinion.
Anyways, the new ones, though a little pricey, come with a three-year warranty, so there’s hope. Unless they are noticing the turnover of claims in Malta and make exceptions for this little country. Wouldn’t be the first time, either. As far as I know some manufacturer of water taps excluded Malta from its warranty because our water is so hard, you can use it as construction material. Amazon doesn’t list Malta as a European country but charges sky-high postage to cover all the insurance payouts for packages that end up in limbo… and the list goes on. Sorry for digressing.
So now I’m done with the most important shopping for our Berlin trip next week. I only wish we could stay longer, but we’ll have to make the best of the 4 days we have. I already know how sad I’ll be to be leaving on Sunday… Still, compared to the first 20 years of my living in Gozo, I’m almost a frequent flyer nowadays, and the next Berlin journey probably won’t be that far away.
Oh well… don’t mind my ramblings… I just don’t have anything better to do. I’m going to finish my second (and last) glass of wine and will call it a day. I’m kind of glad I have a workplace to go to, otherwise I couldn’t afford being on my own much longer!!
It feels like the middle of the night. Nine guys are on the ferry to Malta, two of them with their wives, all of them with motorbikes, one of them hubby… I have very mixed feelings about this road trip; I am excited for George, who loves his Harley. Gozo’s roads… well, everyone knows that a smooth ride and Gozo just don’t match. That’s where my apprehension comes in, I guess: the speed at which they can drive in Sicily will be a totally different thing compared to here.
Harley Sportster XL - Hypercharger
Insomma. It’s 4 in the morning, I’m home alone, and I can’t get back to sleep… Yesterday it had suddenly occurred to me that this is the first time that it’s me who’s left behind – I’ve lost track of the number of occasions when I travelled without George! Funny how I never asked him how he was feeling about that. But then, I never took off on a two-wheeled beast that has such a pull that I sometimes cling to George for dear life and for fear of being “lost” from the seat behind him… and his isn’t even a “large” bike!
Harley Sportster XL - Detail
To distract myself from my worries, I sat down at the pc, photoshopping a few pics. So the first hour has been killed. Oh man. At which moment in time did I start being such a worrier?! Is that, too, a sign of getting old? I think I need another coffee.
Safe journey, guys!!
Harley Sportster XL with hypercharger & setting sun
Last night I made hubby put the 2-pax seat on his Harley and forced him to go for a sunset photo-ride. The resulting pics are a little repetitive, so I won’t post all of them – though I find it hard to choose which ones to leave out…
Harley Davidson against a Gozitan countryside backdrop
A Harley & the sea I
A Harley & the sea II
A Harley & the sea III
The proud owner
Sunset without motorbikes distracting from the view LOL
A friend of our son's passed by in his Mini
Families preparing to go home at dusk after a day at the beach
Next Monday hubby and some of his friends are taking their motorbikes to Sicily for a few days… I have mixed feelings about this but I guess I just gotta hope they’ll return in one piece (one piece each, that is!!).
How could I leave those palms alone! Right from the first time I saw them, I knew they’d make a good OOB subject. It was much trickier than I expected, to “free” all those fronds from the hotel background. But I think the result is reasonable…
Palms at Kempinski Hotel Airport Munich - Out Of Bounds
I’ve kept pretty busy with the photos of my Munich trip and just uploaded those that I deem the better ones, to my deviantART account, in a larger format than the ones here on my blog. I had some extremely nice and totally unexpected feedback, which sent me straight to cloud nine, even if it made my wish for a professional camera more urgent!
All in all, I am very relaxed and content, rather uncommon in the middle of August – as is enjoying a veeery long weekend, with two days of leave after my trip! Today is supposedly Gozo’s busiest day of the entire year: Santa Marija.
The photohunt theme of this week, artificial, tickled me to throw in a couple of pics. I’m afraid they are no masterpieces of photography but I just loved the concept: Three artificial beach volleyball pitches have been installed between the two terminals of Munich’s airport. An exciting tournament that took place there last Sunday created a great atmosphere. What a fabulous idea to give life to an airport!
Photohunt - Artificial: Beach volleyball at Munich Airport
Gotta get going and do some chores around the house now… must utilise this energetic mood while it lasts!
I returned home from Munich late last night, with quite a bunch of photos on my netbook! This trip – though pretty intense workshop-wise – was balm for my eyes, body and soul! The weather was just perfect. As far as I know it rained only once during the day, otherwise it was a very pleasant mixture of cool, cloudy and sunny – although it was even a little warm and sticky at times.
Of course there wasn’t only the weather… the Kempinski Hotel Airport München and the airport itself, were a veritable feast for my photomanic eyes. I’m not a glass/steel/minimalist person, but when you’re surrounded by dusty limestone 24/7 all the year round, it can make such a refreshing change. I revelled in the surrounds of the hotel and the airport, and as a matter of fact never ventured beyond that area! Especially at night, the coloured lights playing behind all that glass were simply stunning.
Last but really not least, travelling was amazingly comfortable, without any of the usual hassles I associate with airports… I checked in my luggage at 6, which is totally pain-free because Lufthansa lets you check in at any counter, so serious queues never get a chance to appear. Minutes later I strolled back to the hotel (which took all of 2 minutes) to have a last coffee with colleagues.
OK, I won’t torture you with more words. Suffice it to say that I had a great time, and here are finally the promised impressions!
Deco in the atrium of the Kempinski Hotel
Detail of the atrium roof
View from my room at the Kempinski - stunning!
Glass & steel
Atrium & waitress
View from hotel atrium towards the airport terminals
They even had aeroplanes!
Reflections I
Reflections II
Control tower at Munich airport
An emperor and a subject
Lonely traveller
Colourful void
A lonely (time?) traveller
...and some more colourful void
I'm developing a penchant for stalking strangers...
Steel & glass
View from Kempinski towards airport terminals
Terminal 2 in front of Kempinski Hotel Airport
Staircase at the Kempinski Hotel Airport
View from the atrium (again - I find it simply fascinating!)
Roof detail
The Nightflight Bar in the Kempinski's atrium
The Kempinski Hotel Airport Munich
And what do you think about this one… Beach volleyball at the airport – how’s that for creativity?
A beach volleyball tournament - right in front of Terminal 2 of Munich Airport!
I know you think I’m daft, but this weather forecast is just beautiful! I could do with a bit of dry weather on Sunday for the sightseeing, but I won’t be really disappointed if it comes down in buckets. Will be a refreshing change!
Thirty-five minutes more, and it’s Saturday again. Another week that’s kinda blurred! With big ups and downs at work and a minimum of private life… probably such roller-coasters are just normal, and it’s me who’s weird? Ma nafx… I meant to go shopping after work but once again I didn’t manage to get out in time. That’s a drag. Two wash-loads had to be done – amazing how much stuff gets dirty in a week! Right now I’m waiting for the second one to finish so I hang the clothes before going to sleep. Tomorrow is definitely going to be a blur with ironing, packing, and hopefully a little chilling, until the taxi is picking me up at 3 am on Sunday morning.
I know I’m rambling… I’m too tired to do anything else. For a while I thought I’d go to the festa of San Lawrenz, but it didn’t happen. And tomorrow night I’m going to miss the Bikers’ BBQ in Victoria, for obvious reasons. That’s a bummer, too, because I was really looking forward to it.
Just after 9 on Sunday my plane is gonna land in Munich, where I’ll meet two colleagues for breakfast, after which a sightseeing tour is planned… The way I feel right now, the prospect of all this action is a bit daunting!
Although my friends tell me I’m not old, I’d say they just don’t know what they’re talking about. My energy levels are nothing what they used to be “when I was young”! Man, I remember staying out all night, then picking up our son from the babysitter at around 3 in the morning – and then go through an 11 hours reception shift on Sunday, from 8 till 7… not exactly a cushy job either, with hordes of Maltese departures…
Memories. Sometimes I become aware that we are still producing yet more of them, all the time, but the old ones really, really stick. And make me sad. Where the hell has time gone?
PS… Prosit to the people of San Lawrenz, who seem to have recognised that murtali (petards) are not vital to the enjoyment of their feast. Il-festa t-tajba lil-kulhadd ta’ San Lawrenz!
So at 5 this morning, my alarm went off. If I make a promise, I keep it. Insomma, I do more often than not! Three quarters of an hour later I finally managed to peel myself out of the bed (yep, that’s rather typical of me!). Sunrise was just after 6, so I jumped off the bed right into my clothes and ran through the garden, even ignoring the cats’ pleas for breakfast. I mean, come on, they never eat before 7!
The mission was, take an attractive shot a luzzu (Maltese fishing boat). So naturally I went to Mgarr – which is right at the other side of the island, as silly as that might sound – we’re talking maybe 8 km. LOL! Arriving at the harbour, I was extremely disappointed. The beautiful boats were either missing, or had all sorts of cloths draped around their bows. It was all rather frustrating… getting up at what felt like the middle of the night, for nothing!
At least I did get two nice shots in, though useless for the purpose but both very typical of life in Gozo. The first view I came across parking my car was this guy…
OK, so you don’t normally see people sleeping at every other corner, at 6 in the morning. But I have come across guys (sorry, but I’ve never seen women!) cultivating their siesta, no matter where they happened to be. This guy also reminded me of my painful awakening yesterday morning, after I’d spent half the night on the floor. I wonder what his bones felt like when he woke up!!
A few minutes later, this adorable horse arrived, getting his morning bath in the sea…
I did, of course, get a few pics of boats. After all, what’s a harbour without boats, eh? Only they weren’t the kind of shots that I’d been after. And this one, I actually took in Marsalforn, after I’d given up on Mgarr… Still not the one I wanted, but I like it, anyways!
Off to try enjoying my Saturday night now. Hubby’s superior royally f*cked up the weekend for us (no news, there!) so I’ll just grab a book and relax…
photohunt
…and of course, of the airport itself!
